It took them seven years to come up with this?
With a straight face, they call it the "American Health Care Act." It's the Paul Ryan/House Republicans plan, and it's more like the "American Sickness Act," or the "American Insurance Company Benevolence Act."
It permits insurance companies to charge higher premiums to older customers than was allowed by the ACA.
It provides much less premium assistance to low-income families, and that assistance is not based on income. (Absurd! Don't we pay our bills with our income?) The ACA's income-based subsidies turn into age-based flat-fee tax credits. WTF? Low-income people really get the shaft. One example in today's news reports: Considering premium costs net of premium assistance on the same policy, a 64 year-old with $15,000 annual income would pay $8500 more per year under the GOP plan than under Obamacare.
It increases the income level at which families may receive some premium assistance, from $97,000 to $150,000 annual income.
It reduces taxes on the health care industry and high income individuals.
Most amazing of all, the Freedom Caucus/Tea Bag moron wing of the House opposes this Ryan plan because it's not draconian enough! It continues with some level of premium support, albeit much less than Obamacare. They insist support should be zero!
Just another illustration of the Great Divide in our society. Should our society provide some assistance to some folks for some things? Or is everything just a purely financial proposition?
The regressive Ryan/House plan views health care as the latter. It's an attempt to unravel a part of our so-called social safety net. Most prior attempts to do that with established programs have failed. I sincerely hope this one fails too.
If it doesn't, I'll see ya in the emergency room!
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